Critic reviews Prospect.2 artist Ragnar Kjartansson

Prospect. 2 artist Ragnar Kjartansson's video of blues musician Pinetop Perkins, at the Old U.S. Mint at 400 Esplanade Ave., 504.568.6993, is a portrait of age for the ages. Prospectus: Critic Doug MacCash
rates Prospect.2 exhibits. The ratings are Wonderful, Worthwhile and
Whatever. This one is Worthwhile.

Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson's 2010 documentary of blues pioneer Joseph William "Pinetop" Perkins, titled "The Man, " is a music video the way Andrew Wyeth might have done it. The Mississippi maestro, who died in March, was 96 at the time of the recording. He is posed at the upright piano in a field of tall, dry grass with a weather-worn farmhouse rising forlornly in the background, a la Wyeth's masterpiece "Christina's World."

Let's assume it's December, because Pinetop plays Christmas ditties in between the blues and boogie-woogie numbers. Winter, of course, is the symbolic end of life. When Perkins repeatedly laments the out-of-tune keys, it seems to imply decades of compromises and regrets. When his fingers jog jauntily across the same keys, it implies timeless triumph. The scene is so sedate that when Perkins lights a cigarette it passes for high drama. In the end, he rises and ambles quietly off the frame.

Kjartansson has produced an absorbing minimalist portrait. Only the noisy, busy, ad hoc museum presentation prevents it from being a wonderful experience.

The exhibit is part of Prospect.2 New Orleans,
a collection of works by 27 avant-garde artists from the Crescent City
and around the world, displayed in various locations. Regular hours are
Wednesdays through Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Sunday (Jan. 29).
Admission is $10 for a one-day pass, $20 for a week’s pass and $30 for a
season pass. Passes are available at the New Orleans Museum of Art in
City Park, the Contemporary Arts Center at 900 Camp St., and the
Prospect New Orleans headquarters at 1036 Esplanade Ave., or at prospectneworleans.org. Take a video tour of Prospect.2 titled: “Visit all 27 Prospect.2 New Orleans avant-garde art exhibition,” here.